Death and Taxes Aren’t the Only Certainties in Life

I disagree with the old adage that the only certainties in life are death and taxes.

There is a third – and that is that we will all feel fear on a regular basis.

It’s a major part of being human.

Cialdini’s research shows that we are more driven by fear (of loss) than we are by desire (for gain).

But, while taxes – and how inappropriately they are spent by successive governments – are a topic that we all love to have a good moan about, death and fear remain taboo topics.

Well, let’s get over our fear of one of these taboos.

Let’s talk about fear – specifically about fear in business.

Let’s just get it out there.

People get scared – we feel fear.

It’s a biological given.

People feel fear at work – a lot.

In fact it’s one of the biggest unrecognised, unacknowledged costs in business today.

Here are three ways that fear is likely to be costing your business right now:

People are sending emails when it would be far less time-consuming – and offer far less opportunity for misunderstanding – if they just called the person instead. But they’re afraid that calling rather than emailing would mean they don’t have an email trail to cover their backs if things go wrong.

People are avoiding difficult conversations and leaving problems to fester. Because they’re afraid to say what needs to be said in case the other person reacts negatively.

There’s a wealth of great ideas about how to improve your business that people aren’t bothering to share. They’re afraid that, if they speak up, no one will listen anyway.

Now, all of these – and the many other ways that fear costs business big time – are completely avoidable, and in next week’s blog we’ll be looking at how.

CommsMasters are specialists in enabling individuals, teams and organisations have the difficult conversations and tackle the sensitive topics that are too often left to fester – at the expense of individual, team and organisational performance. Find out more here or call Tor on +44 (0)141 419 0183.